Sacramento daily record-union., 1887-08-12
THE APPRENTICE" QUESTION

heierrlnS 10 the action OF the National
Assembly of Journeymen House Painters
in declaring in favor of unrestricted ap-
premiership, and of which the RECORD
UNION treated several day ago, the San
Francisco Chronicle says:
This assembly has done wisely and sensibly
and their example should be followed by SINH,
| Lar bodies in other trades and occupations They
must choose, now and here. between giving
their own sons a chance to live in their own
country and seeing the trades ovcrrun by Skilled
labor from elsewhere. 1t should not take them
long to decide such question as that.
That is precisely the issue-an issue be-
tween giving American boys" chance,
or surrendering the trades wholly to Eu-
ropean skilled workmen, while our sons go
upon the highways to live by their wits.
In the course CT its extended article our
contemporary refers to the fact that even
when American boys are admitted to the
trades, they are in very many cases not
thoroughly instructed but turned out half
taught:
by way OF illustration me ely, take what we
are assured has been practiced in some machine
shops In tnls city. boy is taken in to learn
| the trade of machinist in ali its branches In
stead OF beng taught all that a thorough ma
cninlst should know, the boy Is instructed for n
time. may be year, in the rudimeiits of his
trade and is then promoted, as he thinks. to run
ming dr1l or lathe or pianer or some other
mechanical device in the shop and there he is
kept until his time is out What is the conse
quence? He comes ont with the most srnerti
cal knowledge of his trade except in one par
tUular t.ao oranch OF IT, and the employer has had
only Doy S wages for it. The employer defrauds
the boy out of his training and deffauds a man
| OF MS wages by putting halftrained lad into
his place.
One of the persistent objections to free
apprenticeship, by trades union men is, that
under that system apprentices are declared
Journeymen frequently who are not en-
titled to so rank, and that as a aconseauence
the journeyman class in America is Sc
riously injured in reputation, and
the evil is laid at the doors of the EN-
ployers. But the union men lose sight of
the TACT that they are equally to blame.
No reasonable objection could be raised to
their putting the seal of condemnation
upon the incompetent. They are illogical
to refuse apprentices admission to the
trades while opening the doors to foreign
journeymen, and at the same time excuse
the act by the plea that American trades
do not turn out genuine journeymen. To
exclude those willing to learn well because
some unscrupulous employers encourage
the unskllled is unjust As rule the
American employer who wants good work
done, who demands a skilled workman
will not put up with Indifferent perform
| ance or an unskilled worker, native or for
eign born. If the American apprentices
will not become skilled. if the EMPLOYERS
| will not permit them to become expert
mechanics, let the fact develop under trial.
| We do not believe, however, that there is
general truth in the charge The American
employer certainly has no motive for dis
| crlminatIon against the foreign-born
worker. Capacity will command It's price
| when embodied in an American as well as
a foreign trade representative, and of this
| the American apprentice is lust as well
aware as the European skilled workers.
whose numerical strength in America is a
| material cause for the exclusion of Ameri
can youth from the trades. The journey
man painters have reached the sound con-
clusion, and, while admitting apprentices
freely, will very properly refuse to recog-
nize the halfway workman. They will
thus be able to maintain the standard of
good workmanship without obstructing the
path OF opportunity for any apprentice to
become thoroughly qualified journey